If you are a Pune-based strategy analyst with a 700 GMAT and a quiet hope that the Oxford name will walk you into McKinsey London, you have probably read that Said is a consulting school. The numbers say something more careful. This post sets out what the Oxford Said MBA from India costs, how much of the class really ends up in consulting, and what the 2027 UK visa change does to the plan.
What the Oxford Said MBA costs in 2026
Tuition for the 2025-26 year was GBP 88,800, according to admitStreet's Oxford Said breakdown. Confirm the 2026-27 figure with Said before you build a loan sheet, because our June 2026 fee post and other trackers quote slightly different numbers for the intake you will join. At roughly INR 107 per pound, tuition alone is about INR 95 lakh.
Add Oxford living costs, the UK Immigration Health Surcharge, flights and a deposit, and the honest all-in figure lands near INR 1.3 to 1.4 crore for the twelve months. We walk through that build-up line by line in our Oxford Said fees post. The one-year format is the real saving: you give up one year of Indian salary, not two.
The class you would join
CrackVerbal's March 2026 guide puts the class at about 332 students, with an average GMAT of 690 on the 10th Edition scale (635 on GMAT Focus) and five years of average work experience. It calls Indian professionals consistently among the most represented international groups but gives no percentage, and neither will we invent one.
Two points follow. First, the average is five years, so a 25-year-old with two years of experience is an outlier who needs a sharp story. Second, a 690 average means a 700 is not a differentiator. Everyone in the room is sitting at the same number.
Consulting is 18.5% of the class, not the headline
The Class of 2024 data summarised by admitStreet shows consulting at 18.5% of total jobs, with an average consulting salary of GBP 77,832. The average across all post-MBA roles was GBP 74,143. So consulting pays about GBP 3,700 more than the class average, which is a premium, but a modest one, and it is concentrated in under a fifth of the class.
Read that against the brochure language. A school can be strong at consulting and still send most of its class elsewhere, into technology, financial services, healthcare, energy and the public sector. If your plan only works with an MBB offer, you are betting on a slice of a slice. Our consulting track analysis for Indian applicants covers how that compares across schools.
The summer project is not a guaranteed offer
AdmitStreet describes a seven-week Strategic Consulting Project in the summer term, running through July and August. Treat it as what it is: a live client engagement that builds a case-style story for your CV and interviews. We could not verify from public pages that it converts directly into full-time offers, and the original premise that the offer arrives only after the project is something we would not stake money on.
What recruiting usually looks like at a one-year programme is compressed. Firm presentations and applications cluster in the autumn and early winter, case interviews follow, and the summer project arrives after much of that cycle has already closed. The project helps you most if you are pivoting into consulting from engineering, operations or product, because it gives you the client-facing example you otherwise lack.
If you are an IT services engineer targeting consulting
Your risk is not admission, it is conversion. Consulting firms in London and Europe recruit from many schools, and a Said MBA competes with LBS, INSEAD and Cambridge Judge for the same interview slots. Start case practice before you land in Oxford, not in October. Pick two or three target firms, including boutiques and Big Four strategy arms, and plan for a wider net than MBB alone. Our comparison of Cambridge Judge and Oxford Said for Indian applicants is a useful second lens.
If you are already a consultant or a CA
You are the profile for whom the brand does the most. A former Big Four or Indian consulting analyst already has the case vocabulary. Said adds a global brand and a European network, which can lift you from India-only mandates into London or Dubai roles. The caution is that the premium over your current pay is the thing to calculate, not assume. If your Indian package is already INR 40 lakh or more, the GBP 74,143 average is not a leap on a post-loan basis.
What the 2027 UK visa cut changes
From 1 January 2027, international graduates applying for the Graduate Route get 18 months instead of 24, per Careers360. The rule turns on your application date, not your course dates. A Said student finishing in late 2026 or 2027 should plan the application timing with an immigration adviser. Our UK Graduate Route guide covers the timing logic.
For consulting this matters because sponsorship is the real gate. Eighteen months is enough to land a sponsored Skilled Worker role if you start recruiting early, and not enough if you drift through the first year.
What this means for Indian applicants
Apply to Said if you want a one-year route into UK or European general management, consulting or financial services and can fund roughly INR 1.3 to 1.4 crore. Do not apply on the assumption that the summer project is a back door into consulting, because the data shows under a fifth of graduates in the sector.
Before you commit, run your own numbers on loan size against a realistic salary of GBP 74,000 and a visa window of 18 months. If the math survives a bad case where you land outside consulting, apply. If it only works at an MBB offer, widen your list. Our MBA abroad programme maps school fit to career goals, and a free profile evaluation will test your GMAT, work experience and story against the 690 average.
Common questions
Is Oxford Said good for consulting? It places graduates into consulting, with 18.5% of jobs in the sector for the Class of 2024 per admitStreet. That is meaningful but not dominant. Technology, finance and other sectors absorb most of the class.
What GMAT do I need for Oxford Said from India? The class average is 690 on the 10th Edition, or 635 on GMAT Focus, per CrackVerbal. Indian applicants with an engineering degree need to differentiate on work story, since a strong score alone does not.
How much work experience does Said expect? The average is five years, and the minimum is two. A candidate near the minimum needs a very clear career case.
Does the Said summer project lead to a job? It is a seven-week consulting engagement per admitStreet. We found no public confirmation that it converts directly to offers. Use it as interview material, not a guarantee.
Related reading
- Oxford Said MBA fees: the full INR budget
- Cambridge Judge vs Oxford Said for Indian applicants
- Application editing for essays and CV before you submit
Sources verified 8 October 2026. Next review: 1 January 2028. Fee and employment figures come from third-party summaries of Said disclosures; confirm with the school before committing.